Haven’t we all wanted to hit the open road at some stage in our lives? Just get out there and follow the long white line to who knows where; wind in your hair and a smile on your face, free as a bird. Sounds great and there’s no reason why your dreams shouldn’t come to fruition, but there’s a little voice inside your head that won’t be silenced: “What if something happens? What if someone needs me? What if I need someone else?” There’s no need to silence the warrior within; you CAN have your adventure, just make sure you set some communications strategies in place to keep you covered in an emergency like these ones…

Bitten by a Cactus

Ok, so you’re out there on Route 66 giving it some on the highway and suddenly you hear the undeniable call of Nature. You pull over and duck behind the nearest cactus plant to protect your dignity from passing cowboys, but just as you’re readjusting your denims you catch a tender part of your anatomy on a massive spine. Ouch! Those things bite and it’s quite common to get an infection so you can’t take any chances. Luckily, you thought to program your next-door neighbour the nurse’s number into your phone as one of your medical back-up communications strategies. So it’s phone a friend time and she advises you to buy some household glue at your next roadhouse stop as this will prevent the most common infection from cactus spine – cactus dermatitis. Who knew!

Gone With the Wind

You’re about three days into your epic road journey and things are going great (even your cactus bite is healing nicely). You decide to pull into a nice motel and treat yourself to a soft bed and a large steak. As you sign the register and the clerk asks for your credit card, your stomach sinks as the realisation hits that the last time you remember seeing it was when you were using it to flick a giant scorpion off the back seat of the car – and that was three states and 400 windows-wound-down miles back. Just as well you’d set communications strategies in place between your Mum and your bank account and all it takes is one quick call (well ok, it’s your mother; not so quick) and your card is cancelled and there’s $500 wired to the Fedex down the road.

I Do, I Do

You finally made it to Vegas and you’re living it up on the money your Mum wired when, suddenly, in the blink of an eye you glance across the room and fall in love! After a few hours using some of your best-practiced communications strategies for romance, you and the object of your affection are pledging undying love and heading to the Little Chapel of Love for a quickie wedding ceremony overseen by Elvis. Ain’t love grand?

The Honeymoon is Over

Fast-forward three years and two kids later and your little Nevada Rose is definitely beginning to exhibit some thorns. There’s never any time for the two of you and you’re wondering if some of the magic is beginning to fade. But in truth, yours is destined to be a happily-ever-after road trip story and you know it’s worth putting up a fight to save your marriage. So you head off to therapy and as the two of you pour out your hearts, the kindly therapist tells that you really just need to talk and suggests that you put in place some simple communications strategies….

Author Bio: Jenny Kettlewell is the Marketing Manager for Multitone Systems, a leading telecommunications strategy company. Multitone has implemented custom, integrated communications strategies for businesses and organisations in the public and private sector for over 75 years.

Category: Relationships
Keywords: communications strategies